Reunion Online

If you're like me, you watched in disbelief as the news media uncovered recent childhood sexual abuse allegations at Penn State University, Syracuse and numerous other institutions. I couldn't help but wonder how these allegations were kept from authorities for so long. As someone who endured seven years of sexual abuse as a child, I understood why the alleged victims didn't feel safe to talk, but I couldn't get my head around how or why the adults who were made aware of the alleged abuse were so reluctant to demand justice.

It's been gratifying to see the Justice Department's recent revisions to the definition used to compile statistics about rape. Language is an important part of any discussion about sexual abuse - for men, filtered through the lens of cultural expectations of males. Words shape, define and categorize experiences. And the shift may have some deeper implications than are immediately apparent.

On September 28, 2011, five weeks before the Penn State story would dominate news and sports pages, NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit aired "Personal Fouls," a groundbreaking episode on sexual abuse of boys in sports. For viewers of the original airing, "Personal Fouls" was a remarkable prelude to, and preparation for, the revelations of November: the detailed charges against Jerry Sandusky, the institutional complicity that allowed it to continue for years, and the individual courage that, when backed by family and community support, can bring such tragedies to an end.

 Tonight is a very important one—for Joyful Heart, the community of survivors we seek to serve and for millions of viewers who will tune in to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is due for reauthorization. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) will introduce a bipartisan bill on tomorrow, Wednesday, November 30th to reauthorize and improve VAWA.

 In response to the tragedy reported at Penn State in the allegations against Jerry Sandusky, our partners at A CALL TO MEN are calling on all men to break the silence.

Mariska Hargitay, Joyful Heart's founder and president and star of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, was on the TODAY Show yesterday morning to discuss a very important episode of SVU--one that addresses the often ignored effects of male sexual abuse.